Bullying can happen anywhere and to anyone. It happens
every day in schools across the Commonwealth and around the country. So
often, those being bullied feel helpless and don’t know where to turn. In
severe cases, bullying situations can lead to physical violence, threatening
behavior, and even death.

As we move closer to the start of the school year, it’s
important to know that there are a variety of websites with advice and
resources for parents and students to handle bullying — before it gets out
of control.

This website speaks directly to the one being bullied.
On its opening page, it reads: “There are lots of reasons teens pick on
their peers at school. Is it because you look different? Do others ostracize
you because of your sexual orientation? Are they just being mean? Sometimes
it feels like no one understands how being bullied makes you feel. Sometimes
it feels like no one will listen. Sometimes it feels like no one will help.
All that pressure starts to build up. You think about running away from home
or hurting yourself just to make the bullying stop. You aren't alone. The
National Runaway Safeline empowers bullied youth with tools to help them
make sense of their situation.”

The big message here is awareness. If parents and
teachers pay attention to warning signs, a bullying situation could be
remedied before it goes too far. According to this website, some signs that
may point to a bullying problem are unexplainable injuries, lost or
destroyed personal items, frequent headaches or stomach aches, feeling sick
or faking illness, changes in eating habits, difficulty sleeping, declining
grades, loss of interest in schoolwork or not wanting to go to school,
sudden loss of friends or avoidance of social situations, feelings of
helplessness or decreased self-esteem, self-destructive behaviors such as
running away from home, self-harm, or talking about suicide.

Kidpower is a global nonprofit leader in personal
safety and violence prevention education, which has served over 2 million
people of all ages and abilities across six continents, since its founding
in 1989. Instead of using fear to teach about violence prevention, the
Kidpower Method makes it fun to learn to be safe, building habits that can
increase the safety of young people and adults alike and that can last a
lifetime. This website has a large number of articles on how to teach your
children to be less of a target for bullying. By following a lot of the
suggestions, you make your child feel safer and more confident when it comes
to dealing with bullies.

This website includes articles that discuss when adults
should intervene during teasing, how a parent can help a child deal with a
bully, teaching children tolerance, and how to react when you know someone
is being bullied at school.

This is a compilation of articles and blogs that cover
topics related to bullying — everything from sibling bullying to
cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is similar to other types of bullying, except
it takes place online and through text messages sent to cellphones.
Cyberbullies can be classmates, online acquaintances, and even anonymous
users, but most often they are someone familiar to the victim.

STOMP Out Bullying focuses on reducing and preventing
bullying, cyberbullying, sexting and other digital abuse, educating against
homophobia, racism and hatred, decreasing school absenteeism, and deterring
violence in schools, online and in communities across the country. It
teaches effective solutions on how to respond to all forms of bullying; as
well as educating kids and teens in school and online, providing help for
those in need and at risk of suicide, raising awareness, peer mentoring
programs in schools, public service announcements by noted celebrities, and
social media campaigns. An additional focus educates parents on how to keep
their children safe and responsible online.

If you’re interested in finding out the six different
types of bullies, this is the place to go. The article clearly defines types
of bullies and their personality traits. They are: bully victims,
popular/aggressive bullies, group bullies, relational bullies, serial
bullies, and indifferent bullies.